Irelandās national police warns of hacked X accounts promoting crypto scams
Two official Garda accounts with a combined following of more than 900,000 were hijacked to push fake XRP allocations
Ireland’s national police force spent part of October 15, 2026, warning the public about its own social media accounts.
An Garda SĆochĆ”na said two of its official X accounts were compromised and used to promote a crypto scam. The accounts have a combined audience of more than 900,000 followers.
What happened to the Garda accounts
The affected handles were @GardaInfo, which has nearly 299,000 followers, and @GardaTraffic, which has more than 600,000.
According to the GardaĆ, unauthorized access began at approximately 11 p.m. on October 14. The force confirmed the breach the following day, October 15.
In that window, whoever took control used the accounts to publish hundreds of misleading posts. The messages pushed a scheme claiming to offer XRP “allocations” to users.
The posts directed followers toward links tied to a wallet app called Xaman, also known as Xumm. Xaman confirmed the allocation claims were fraudulent.
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Garda says internal systems were untouched
GardaĆ said the breach was confined to the X platform and that there were no signs of unauthorized access to internal Garda systems or data.
The force also warned the public not to engage with the compromised accounts. That advice extends to any impersonator accounts that may pop up trying to borrow the Garda name.
A familiar playbook with a new target
The GardaĆ pointed to an ongoing pattern of verified accounts being hijacked for similar crypto scams. The Irish police are the latest name on that list, not the first.
The use of XRP and a known wallet name also fits a broader tactic. Scams tend to work best when they borrow real brands, real tokens, and real apps.
What this means for crypto users and institutions
For the projects being impersonated, incidents like this create a reputational headache they did nothing to cause. Xaman had to confirm publicly that the allocation claims tied to its name were fake.
The GardaĆ’s quick confirmation that internal data was safe likely helped contain public alarm. Still, the hours between the initial access around 11 p.m. and the clean-up gave scammers time to post hundreds of messages to a very large audience.
An internal inquiry is ongoing, alongside cooperation with X to pinpoint the exact method of unauthorized access.